The Most Instagrammable Stained Glass in Denver (With Locations)
Denver is a city that rewards the curious — and nowhere is that more true than in its stained glass. Tucked inside historic churches, glowing above hotel lobbies, and framing the windows of neighborhood restaurants that have been feeding Denverites for generations, the Mile High City’s art glass is some of the most photographable architecture in the American West. Here are ten locations where stained glass in Denver is genuinely worth pulling out your phone for — addresses included.
A note for photographers: stained glass photographs best when the light is coming from outside the building. Morning visits to east-facing windows and late-afternoon visits to west-facing ones tend to reward the most. Overcast days actually work beautifully too — the diffused light eliminates glare and saturates the color in ways that direct sun cannot.
1. Colorado State Capitol— 200 E Colfax Ave
The most historically significant stained glass in Denver lives inside the Colorado State Capitol. The building’s windows depict people and events central to Colorado’s story, and the Heritage Windows in the Old Supreme Court chamber — installed during Colorado’s 1976 centennial — honor the state’s Hispanic, Native American, African American, and Chinese and Japanese communities with vivid, narrative glass panels. Free guided tours run year-round and include a stained glass segment. The third-floor rotunda offers some of the best vantage points in the building for wide-angle shots.
2. Brown Palace Hotel— 321 17th St
The Brown Palace’s eight-story atrium is anchored by one of the most photographed stained glass ceilings in the West. Built in 1892 and designed by architect Frank Edbrooke, the ceiling filters Colorado’s high-altitude sunlight into warm amber and gold tones that shift hour by hour throughout the day. You don’t need a room — the lobby is open to visitors, and afternoon tea is a legitimate excuse to linger beneath it for as long as you like. Shoot from the upper floors looking down, or from the ground floor looking straight up.
3. Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception— 1530 Logan St
Denver’s most prominent Gothic Revival landmark contains more than 75 stained glass windows imported from Munich, Germany, each depicting sacred scenes in vivid cobalt, ruby, and gold. The nave windows are enormous — they rise nearly the full height of the interior — and on a clear Colorado morning, the light they cast is otherworldly. The cathedral is open to visitors outside of services. Arrive early on a weekday for the best light and the quietest conditions for photography.
4. Angelo’s Taverna— 620 E 6th Ave
One of Denver’s best-kept architectural secrets is hiding inside a neighborhood Italian restaurant that has been open since 1974. Angelo’s Taverna has retained its original stained glass windows, which glow warmly against the backdrop of brick arches and classic wooden booths. It is the kind of glass that makes a room feel like it has always been exactly this way — and at Angelo’s, it more or less has. Evening is the best time to visit: candlelight and the amber tones of the glass create a warm, intimate atmosphere that photographs beautifully. The housemade limoncello doesn’t hurt either. Visit Angelo’s Taverna.
5. Molly Brown House Museum— 1340 Pennsylvania St
The 1889 Capitol Hill mansion that once belonged to Margaret “Molly” Brown is now a public museum, and its Victorian stained glass is among the finest surviving residential art glass in Denver. The colorful accents throughout the parlors and stairwell reflect the decorative ambitions of Denver’s Gilded Age elite — glass as a statement of taste, not just a window treatment. Tours run daily and give you access to the full interior. The stairwell windows are a particular highlight for photography.
6. Savina’s Mexican Kitchen— 1801 Broadway
Situated across from the Brown Palace, Savina’s — formerly La Loma, a Denver institution — features large, traditional stained glass windows that fill the dining room with rich, jewel-toned light. The reclaimed Denver brick and warm wooden beams create a setting that already photographs well, and the stained glass elevates it significantly. It is one of the few Denver restaurants where the architecture is genuinely part of the experience. Visit Savina’s for lunch when the natural light is strongest, or for dinner when the interior lighting gives the glass a completely different, more dramatic character.
7. Trinity United Methodist Church— 1820 Broadway
Completed in 1888, Trinity United Methodist is one of Denver’s oldest church buildings — a handsome example of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture that has anchored the Broadway corridor for well over a century. Its stained glass windows have been serving the congregation since the building opened, their warm colors softening the stone interior into something genuinely welcoming. The church is open for self-guided visits outside of services. The windows on the south-facing wall are particularly luminous on clear afternoons.
8. Evans Memorial Chapel— University of Denver, 2000 E Asbury Ave
This Gothic chapel was originally built in downtown Denver in 1878, moved to the University of Denver campus in the 1950s, and recently underwent a careful restoration of its historic stained glass windows. The result is one of Denver’s most quietly beautiful interior spaces — intimate in scale, with intricately patterned glass that rewards close inspection. The chapel hosts weddings and interfaith gatherings and is accessible to visitors on the DU campus. Early morning light through the east windows is the standout photographic moment.
9. Cathedral of St. John in the Wilderness— 1350 Washington St
Denver’s Episcopal cathedral is home to the oldest parish in Colorado and one of the most layered stained glass collections in the city. The windows span multiple eras of installation — from Victorian-era narrative compositions to 20th-century memorial glass — creating a visual timeline of the congregation’s history alongside Denver’s growth. The building’s Cheesman Park neighborhood setting is beautiful in its own right, and the cathedral welcomes visitors outside of services. The variety of glass styles here is unmatched in Denver; no two windows feel like they were made in the same decade.
10. Central Presbyterian Church— 1660 Sherman St
A short walk from the State Capitol, Central Presbyterian features luminous art glass panels whose intricate leaded construction and mosaic-like compositions make them among the most visually striking in Denver’s downtown core. The windows are particularly effective in the morning when east-facing light pours directly through the glass into the sanctuary. The church welcomes visitors and the surrounding Civic Center neighborhood makes it easy to combine with a visit to the Capitol or the Denver Art Museum nearby.
Plan Your Visit — and Bring the Right Light
Every location on this list is publicly accessible, and most require nothing more than showing up at the right time of day. Denver’s our Denver stained glass studio spans churches, hotels, restaurants, and civic buildings — and the best of it has been maintained and restored by studios that understand what these windows mean to the city’s identity.
If seeing Denver’s finest stained glass has you thinking about what custom or restored glass could do for your own space, our Denver team at Scottish Stained Glass would love to talk. We’ve been designing, fabricating, and restoring our Denver church stained glass portfolio since 1991. Reach out for a free consultation — we’re local, and we know this city’s glass as well as anyone.
